79th Group investment

Skaty

Looking to see if anyone has had any success, or positive progress, in recovering their investment, following the collapse of the 79th Group?

wmb194

Skaty said:

Looking to see if anyone has had any success, or positive progress, in recovering their investment, following the collapse of the 79th Group?

What was it? A Ponzi?

Albermarle

Not having heard of 79th group I had a look online.

It seems it was a classic fraudulent mini bonds scheme. It is under police investigation, and until that is complete it is very unlikely investors will even get any info about if they are likely to get any money back.

I think you will need to be patient and just hope some % can be recovered or compensated, but I would not bank on it.

dunstonh

Since it was fraudulent and unregulated, you should assume that you will receive nothing back.  There is no FSCS protection.

You are basically now a creditor to the company that is in administration, but the company had almost no assets, and the administrators have confirmed that, as things stand, there are no funds to distribute.

There may be some legal action against third parties, but in most cases, you would not expect success, and even where it is, the money would likely go to creditors higher up the food chain.  These legal cases could drag on for very many years or into a decade.

So, in summary, you should be working on the basis that you will get nothing back, I'm afraid.

Eyeful

Skaty said:

Looking to see if anyone has had any success, or positive progress, in recovering their investment, following the collapse of the 79th Group?

To save others, tell us:
1. How did you find out about this group?
2. What attracted you to their ads?
2. What investigation into this company did you do, before giving them your money?

TankDriver

Hi

I made transfer through Nationwide. I know that certain banks have already refunded their account holders - Lloyd's, Santander and Monza amongst others.

Nationwide complaints department have advised that this matter is with Senior Management and they won't contact me until they've made a decision.

Reaper

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81621682#Comment_81621682

Although this has long been the advice I am not sure it is true any more. The Payment Systems Regulator produced new rules on Authorised Push Payment (i.e. when an investor is tricked into sending money to a scam) via Faster Payments or CHAPS, effective 7th October 2024 onwards.
https://www.psr.org.uk/information-for-consumers/app-fraud-reimbursement-protections/

There is protection for up to £85,000 to be refunded within business 35 days

So the question is does the APP protection apply here? Well here is a letter from the FCA to the banks saying they should at least be considering it.
https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/fca/foi2025_01847-annex-a.pdf

eskbanker

So the question is does the APP protection apply here? Well here is a letter from the FCA to the banks saying they should at least be considering it.

That letter seems to say the square root of not very much, in basically telling banks to assess each claim on its merits, rather than giving any meaningful guidance! It does cross-refer to a circular issued to members by UK Finance, so perhaps that says something more concrete - has anyone seen it?